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Development of P. E. M fuel cell with enhanced hydrophobicity and oxygen solubility

Author

Ang, Jianxiang

Date of Issue

2009

School

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Related Organization

Temasek Polytechnic

Abstract

Today, fossil fuels are still the main source of energy for our all of our daily electricity needs although they emit harmful byproducts which will damage the environment. Therefore, the world looks into the possibility of using fuel cells as they have good part load performance, high level of efficiency, lower emissions of regulated pollutants and a wide range of power rating.
The polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEFCs) is a type of fuel cell which can generate high power efficiently, thus making this technology possible for mobile and portable applications. As pure hydrogen is being used at the anode side and atmospheric air being used at the cathode side, there is a need to increase the amount of oxygen supplied at the cathode side because atmospheric air contains only approximately 21% of oxygen.
The introduction of silicon oil into the Nafion matrix, in hope to improve the oxygen solubility at the cathode due to its oxygen solubility properties and to provide hydrophobicity for air to reach the reaction sites, failed to improve the proton performance of the fuel cell. The performance of the fuel cells with added silicon oil and the fuel cells with added silicon oil and surfactant are relatively lower compared to a normal fuel cell.
Although the performance of the fuel cells with added silicon oil was not up to expectation due possibility to improper dispersion of silicon oil in the cathode catalyst layer, the study offered the author an invaluable experience and learning opportunity, especially to gain a more in-depth understanding in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.